Six moments that swung the Super Rugby final
The Crusaders 38-17 victory sealed back-to-back championships and completed a dominant season, officially bringing in the third dynasty in the franchise’s history.
With the Lions heavy underdogs, they needed everything to go right to unsettle this clinical Crusaders side. Here are six defining moments that wrote the script for the Crusaders ninth title.
Lions early pressure unrewarded
The Lions needed a fast start and early reward to build confidence that they could pull this upset off.
They almost had it when Ruan Combrinck sliced through in the early stages for a big line break. They were able to work their way down inside the Crusaders five but after 13 phases they knocked on, blowing a golden opportunity to get an early jump and start with a 7-0 lead.
They did open the scoring with a penalty in the 12th minute, but with the majority of possession and territory in the first half they will rue not being able to come away with more, especially in the first quarter when they had the run of play.
Jantjies brain fade
The Lions needed a flawless game from their Springbok playmaker Elton Jantjies to be a chance in this final. Things were going smoothly before an unraveling series of events after twenty minutes.
Already inside the Crusaders half, Jantjies overcooked a questionable bomb that was easily marked by Mo’unga inside the 22 with no pressure. He wasted no time and hoofing the ball back down the field while the Lions had no players back.
Jantjies waited and waited for the ball to roll over the try-line and casually picked the ball up and dotted down inside the goal line, thinking of a 22 restart. Unfortunately he ended up giving the Crusaders a five-metre scrum as the ball never crossed the chalk.
It was exactly the kind of mental error the Lions couldn’t afford.
Mo’unga magic
Jantjies kicking game continually failed to create pressure against the Crusaders. Their bombing strategy seemed inspired by the Waratahs early season effort which helped them build an early 29-0 lead in that game. The key difference – the Lions don’t have the best jumper in the game, Israel Folau, like the Waratahs do.
Down 13-3 Jantjies tried another contested bomb from his own 35. The Lions kick chase over estimated the arrival time, allowing Richie Mo’unga to expertly time his jump with a perfect launch at top speed.
Mo’unga came down with the ball with momentum and found a crease to weave through the Lions staggered defence, putting on a lethal step on the cover tackle. He found support in Jack Goodhue, who was brought down inches short but they scored a phase later through fullback David Havili.
The converted try stretched the Crusaders lead to 20-3 and had the Lions reeling with five minutes left in the first half.
Lions maul gets mauled
There was a sense of building intrigue when the Lions kicked to the corner to setup the first lineout maul inside the five.
The Lions knew what they were going to do. The Crusaders knew what the Lions were going to do. All that was left to see was whether it would work. Unfortunately for the Lions, they were stopped in their tracks multiple times by a world-class pack that had their best weapon disarmed and dismantled by the end of the first half.
Unbeknown to the visitors, the Crusaders had statistically the best goal line lineout maul defence of any team in the competition. An astounding 96.3% of opposition lineout maul drives failed to score a try against the Crusaders this season. Just one try had been conceded all year in this fashion.
A strategy that has had a 3% success rate against the defending champions continued to fail on the biggest stage. When the Crusaders drove the third lineout maul in a row backward, the Lions were left perplexed and had to resort to plan B.
Decision to kick for three down 23-13.
A Cyle Brink try in the 52nd minute gave the Lions a glimmer of hope by cutting the Crusaders lead to 10 points. A rare missed tackle from Matt Todd allowed Brink to break free and scamped 20 metres to score unobstructured.
With the Lions clawing their way back into the contest, they earned a penalty in the roughly 40 metres out, hugging the left-hand touchline. An opportunity beckoned to kick for the corner again and perhaps play off the top of the lineout in search of another try.
Instead, the Lions opted for a long-range penalty kick through distance specialist Ruan Combrinck. He sprayed the kick wide left, giving the Crusaders a 22-metre restart which they successfully contested and won through Seta Tamanivalu.
A few minutes later they scored under the posts through replacement halfback Mitch Drummond to severely dent the Lions comeback hopes.
Havili’s quick lineout
The Crusaders continually threatened to pull away but the Lions were good enough to strike back each time to offer glimmers of a comeback.
A powerful Malcolm Marx try from short range with 14 minutes remaining gave the Lions a two-score deficit down 30-18.
As they had done all match, the Crusaders responded in emphatic fashion. A quick lineout by David Havili found George Bridge in the midfield. He evaded pressure and found some tired forwards in the defence, breaking through before linking with support.
Scott Barrett crashed over moments later for the definitive try, effectively sealing the match with a 37-18 lead.
Comments on RugbyPass
Firstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
99 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
99 Go to commentsHo hum.
99 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
99 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
99 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
99 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
99 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
99 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
99 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
99 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
99 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
99 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
99 Go to comments